Florida Law Provides Nursing Homes With Staffing Flexibility To Meet Minimum Direct Care Hours Per Resident

On April 8, 2022, Florida enacted a law that provides nursing homes with more flexibility for meeting minimum staffing requirements. Average minimum direct care hours will remain at about 3.6 hours per resident per day, however the law allows nursing homes to use non-nurses to provide some the direct care hours. The goal is to help the state’s nursing homes address staffing shortages. Federal regulations for nursing homes do not set minimum staffing requirements.

Under the previous law, the minimum hours per resident per day were to be provided by certified nursing assistants (CNAs), at 2.5 . . .